2012 Conference a Great Success!

Congratulations to the Magic Valley Section for hosting a successful conference. Over 140 surveyors attended the presentations and we raised $9,400.00 for the scholarship fund.

 

ISPLS Conference Report 2012
Hugh Edwards, PLS

First of all I would like to commend President Tom Ruby, Magic Valley Section Director Bert Nowak and the rest of the members of the Magic Valley Section for a job well done.
The planning for this conference took place over several months in areas such as deciding on the venue, the hotel, the main speaker and the split sessions on Friday. We decided early on Jeff Lucas as the main speaker and were able to ink him to a contract. He sent us topics for review and the membership at-large voted for the three topics, Retracement in the 2009 Manual; Legal Research and the Land Surveyor; and The Pincushion Effect. We hoped by doing this that we would get all members involved and excited to come to the conference.
The Canyon Crest Convention Center was chosen as the main venue for the conference. This is the first time that we have a place in Twin Falls that could hold the size of conference we were anticipating. I would like to thank Renee Clawson and her staff for the fine work they did at the conference. We had a few hiccups with the audio-visual setup and she was right there helping us rectify any problems as fast as she could. The meals were outstanding from my point of view and were better than any I have had at any of our conferences in the past.
I would also like to thank Celeste Bangerter from the Hilton Garden Inn for her help getting accommodations for the guests and attendees of the Conference.
We were able to fill eight of our ten vendor booths. This was tremendous in the face of the economic times and I would like to thank those vendors for their participation and for their generosity in donating items for the workshop. We could not have a conference without these vendors. I would also like to thank Dale Riedesel for bringing in some of his survey collection to exhibit at the conference and for allowing us to raffle tours of his collection at his home. Thanks Dale!
The weather was a little dreary but this may have helped keep attendees at the sessions. Good weather could have meant golf not PDH's!
Mr. Lucas had some interesting theories which seemed kind of radical to most of the attendees but he was entertaining in his presentation which at times resembled a revival meeting of the surveyors. His style was quite different than what I was used to.
Our annual auction was also well attended and the money raised will help us fund more scholarships for the land surveying students. I thank Wayne Barber for his always good work on the project.
Those not in attendance at the annual meeting missed out on a lively discussion on the future of our society and were not able to cast a vote concerning the raising of our dues $50.00. I am sure that there will be those who will complain about this move but my advice is to attend the conference and annual meeting and have your voice heard on matters that directly affect your membership in our society.
The banquet was well attended and the presentation on the canoe trip from Canada to Astoria was interesting. It is good to see what our society' s contributions is paying for.
Friday split sessions have attendees something besides raw surveying topics and I believe they were well received.
Something that might be changed included the item writing workshop sponsored by the Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors. The BPEPLS probably thought that this would be the most efficient way to hold this workshop. Less that half of the attendees of the workshop attended the conference. This may have cut our conference attendance down due to the fact that it was a way to get 12 PDH's for little or no cost. I attended this workshop and found it interesting but possibly it could be held at a different time than the conference. Just a thought.
In summary, the conference was a success in my view. Those who did not attend not only missed out on the PDH's but missed out on meeting and talking to members from around the state. I always enjoy talking to Glenn Bennett, Bob Jones, Gale Dahlman and many others from around the state learning how land surveyors in other areas are fairing in these trying economic times, and also catching up with them and their lives. My advice to those not in attendance: Come to the next conference in Boise and get involved!

Respectfully submitted;

Hugh W. Edwards, P.L.S.
Conference Committee Member